MovieChat Forums > WKRP in Cincinnati (1978) Discussion > The Three Don Pesolas

The Three Don Pesolas

posted 10 years ago by dpm-5
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In episode 11, "The Contest Nobody Could Win," the character of the guy who wins the contest (Don Pesola) had always been depicted in the syndicated version of the show by the late Vincent Schiavelli (as the impostor) and Tracey Walker (as the real Don Pesola).

In acquiring the Shout! Factory DVD set of the complete series however, yet a third actor appears to have portrayed the character in the original broadcast episode, replacing Schiavelli. In addition to this, the story line is slightly changed as well.

Initially I thought the music rights issue was behind the changes, but I don't recall music airing during the portions of the episode in which this "third" Don Pesola appears. Anyone have any information on what transpired, and why Schiavelli was brought in to (apparently) re-shoot the scenes?

[–] paulchipuer 10 years ago

Part of the answer your looking for is in the thread "Loving the new dvd set".

[–] claws0922 10 years ago

I just watched that episode on the DVD set and noticed it myself and it's really weird. The last 10 minutes are so are completely different from any version I've seen of the show before. HULU has the version with Vincent Schiavelli on their site right now. I wish they'd have put an explanation in there as to what happened. This is going to drive me crazy.